Scottish Executive

Civil Servants

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many permanent civil service employees were employed in its Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department and what the total annual remuneration of such employees was on 30 April 2003.

Mr Andy Kerr: There were 353 permanent staff employed within Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department at the end of April 2003 (a working time equivalent of 341.8). Their basic salaries totalled £8.2 million annually.

Civil Servants

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many employees were temporarily employed in its Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department and what the total annual equivalent remuneration of such employees was on 30 April 2003.

Mr Andy Kerr: There were nine temporarily employed casual staff employed within Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department at the end of April 2003. Their basic salaries totalled £100,000 annually.

Criminal Justice Act 1991

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many fines imposed by courts have been recovered by deductions from benefits in each of the last six years, as referred to in section 24 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the following tables.

  Number of Sheriff Court Fines Marked for the Deduction of Income Support, 1996-97 to 2001-021

  


Year Ending 31 December

Number



1996-97

40



1997-98 

42



1998-99

75



1999-2000

94



2000-01 

57



2001-02

47



  Note:

  1. The figures show fines marked for recovery by Attachment Order in whole or in part. There are no figures available on the actual amounts recovered.

  Number of District Court Fines1 Resulting in the Deduction of Income Support, 1996-97 to 2001-02

  


Year Ending 31 March

Number



1996-972

454



1997-983

746



1998-99

758



1999-2000

1,009



2000-014

1,053



2001-025

981



  Notes:

  1. Includes court imposed fines, registered fines, compensation orders and fiscal fines.

  2. Excludes Renfrewshire and Scottish Borders.

  3. Excludes Argyll and Bute, Glasgow City and West Dunbartonshire.

  4. Excludes East Renfrewshire and City of Edinburgh.

  5. Excludes Argyll and Bute, East Renfrewshire, Fife, Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders.

Enterprise

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many business closures there were in each year from 5 April 1990 to 4 April 2003.

Mr Jim Wallace: Business closures are normally measured by VAT de-registrations. These are published annually on a calendar year basis. The latest available data is for 2001. Changes to the VAT threshold in 1994 mean that data before that date are not directly comparable with data from 1994 onwards. The following table shows business closures in Scotland from 1990 to 2001.

  VAT De-Registrations in Scotland 1990-2001

  


1990

12,530



1991

13,190



1992

13,055



1993

13,600



1994 (discontinuity in series)

12,560



1995

12,020



1996

11,535



1997

11,540



1998

10,930



1999

11,900



2000

11,390



2001

10,745

Enterprise

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many new businesses were created in the year to 4 April 2003.

Mr Jim Wallace: New businesses are normally measured by VAT registrations. The latest available data is for 2001.

Enterprise

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many business closures there were in the last quarter of the year to 4 April (a) 2002 and (b) 2003.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally. Business closures are normally measured by VAT de-registrations. These are only available on a calendar year basis. The latest available data is for 2001.

Enterprise

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were declared redundant as a result of business closures in the year to 4 April 2003.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally.

Enterprise

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual percentage change in business closures was between the years 5 April 2001 to 4 April 2002 and 5 April 2002 to 4 April 2003, broken down by industry sector, and what information it has on how these figures compare with the rest of the United Kingdom.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally. Business closures are normally measured by VAT de-registrations. These are only available on a calendar year basis with the latest available data being for 2001.

Enterprise

Mr Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many limited companies registered in the United Kingdom have their headquarters in Scotland and what information it has on the proportion this represents of all such companies.

Mr Jim Wallace: According to the Department of Trade and Industry's Small Business Service, 862,270 "companies and public corporations" were active in the UK in 2001. In the same year 45,200 companies and public corporations had their head office in Scotland. This represents 5.2% of the UK total.

Forestry

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its decision on the location of the headquarters of Forest Enterprise.

Allan Wilson: The review of the location of Forest Enterprise Scotland was announced on 11 December 2002 and is being conducted in accordance with the Executive's relocation policy. When we announced the review, we said that a decision would be taken by the end of this year. However, we have been anxious to conclude the review as quickly as possible in order to minimise the uncertainty for staff. Following consultation with staff, stakeholders and the unions, the review team has now produced its report and I expect to be in a position to make an announcement in the next few weeks.

Holyrood Project

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Secretary of State for Scotland has given it a guarantee that Lord Fraser of Carmyllie will have access to all past and present personnel of Her Majesty's Government whom he may wish to interview as part of his inquiry into the Holyrood building project and, if not, whether it will seek such a guarantee.

Mr Jack McConnell: If Lord Fraser should encounter any difficulty, I am confident from my discussions with the Secretary of State for Scotland that I would have his full co-operation in resolving it.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the administrative cost of collecting non-domestic rates was in 2002-03, broken down by local authority area.

Mr Andy Kerr: This information is not currently available. We are awaiting returns from the local authorities before we could provide this information. However, the table gives the Budget Estimates of Total Expenditure on Collection of Non-Domestic Rate Income for each authority for 2002-03. This is the most up-to-date information that we have for all the councils at present.

  


 

£000



Aberdeen, City

309



Aberdeenshire

193



Angus

159



Argyll and Bute

423



Clackmannanshire

72



Dumfries and Galloway

166



Dundee

243



East Ayrshire

22



East Dunbartonshire

97



East Lothian

60



East Renfrewshire

92



Edinburgh, City

134



Eilean Siar

115



Falkirk

214



Fife

229



Glasgow

862



Highland

693



Inverclyde

197



Midlothian

166



Moray

144



North Ayrshire

107



North Lanarkshire

181



Orkney

18



Perth and Kinross

200



Renfrewshire

124



Scottish Borders

110



Shetland

96



South Ayrshire

98



South Lanarkshire

667



Stirling

169



West Dunbartonshire

175



West Lothian

123



Scotland

6,658

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much non-domestic rates income it received in 2002-03 from public bodies or organisations that it funds directly or indirectly.

Mr Andy Kerr: This information is not held centrally.

Nutrition

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in the promotion of healthy eating in primary schools.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive promotes healthy eating in primary schools in a number of ways including the development of nutrient standards for school meals and by supporting the provision of breakfast clubs and fruit in nurseries and schools.

  Advice and support materials provided by the Scottish Executive give health education, including nutritional education, a secure place within the curriculum and seek to ensure that it is provided in all schools. The Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit supports schools in becoming Health Promoting Schools. The main responsibility for the delivery and management of nutritional education within the curriculum, the quality of school meals and the provision of additional services such as breakfast clubs rests with local authorities.

Schools

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to ensure that every school is an integrated community school by 2007, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland .

Peter Peacock: We have committed more than £63 million over the next three years to support education authorities in rolling out the integrated community schools approach to all schools in their areas. Authorities and their partner agencies are also expected to make a financial commitment from their mainstream budgets and from other sources of funding available to them.

  We are monitoring the progress of roll-out through reports submitted annually by authorities to the Scottish Executive. Multi-disciplinary teams led by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Schools are carrying out reviews of integrated community school clusters, and arrangements are being made for a national evaluation of the roll-out programme to start later this year.

Scottish Agricultural College

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the capital funding bid from the Scottish Agricultural College submitted to its Environment and Rural Development Department on 15 January 2003 has been approved and, if so, which projects under the bid have been successful and what the capital allocation is to each project.

Ross Finnie: The college's approved capital grant allocation for 2003-04 is £1 million. Its provisional allocation for 2004-05 and 2005-06 is £1.1 million per annum. The college's capital expenditure plan for 2003-04 comprises: completion of the dairy centre at Crichton, Dumfriesshire (£27,000); second phase of the implementation of the human resource/payroll computer module (£230,000); 3D ultrasound scanner (£150,000); new computer network and infrastructure (£271,000); upgrading of the animal welfare centre at Easter Howgate, Midlothian (£70,000); renovation of veterinary and advisory services offices (£75,000), and minor items costing less than £20,000 (£177,000).

Smoking

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-542 by Mr Tom McCabe on 12 June 2003, what evidence it has to support its statement that the best ventilation systems can protect non-smokers from exposure to carcinogens.

Mr Tom McCabe: As we made clear in the previous answer, the most effective protection from Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is a completely smoke-free environment. The Scottish Executive does not endorse ventilation systems alone as offering complete protection against the health risks associated with passive smoking. While ventilation technology has the potential for reducing levels of exposure to second hand tobacco smoke and associated carcinogens provided it is properly operated and maintained, there remains no scientific evidence or consensus about whether there is any safe level of exposure to ETS.

Smoking

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-544 by Mr Tom McCabe on 12 June 2003, what plans it has to ensure that people who wish to use local leisure facilities can do so without exposing themselves to any health risks and discomfort associated with passive smoking.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive proposes to begin a wide reaching public consultation later this year on how best to extend the provision of smoke-free areas in public places, including local leisure facilities.

Statistics

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its criteria are for gathering statistics at local and national levels across the range of its responsibilities.

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms exist for reviewing its criteria for gathering statistics at local and national levels across the range of its responsibilities.

Mr Andy Kerr: The aim of the statistical service in Scotland is to provide relevant and reliable statistical information, analysis and advice to meet the needs of government, business and the people of Scotland. It is the assessment of these needs which informs the process of gathering statistics.

  Users are consulted through an annual statistical plan, the SCOTSTAT user consultation network and various other formal and informal networks. When deciding to continue the collection of data or to introduce new collections, the statistical service considers the burden being placed on data providers, whether other sources are currently available, whether the proposed method of collection is the most appropriate and whether the data being collected is "fit for purpose".

Teachers

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current level of recruitment of modern languages teachers is adequate in light of the forecast levels of teachers taking retirement over the next 10 years

Peter Peacock: Yes. The aim of the teacher workforce planning exercise is to produce new teachers when they will be required in the workforce.

Telecommunications

Iain Smith (North East Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been any warnings from health bodies that terrestrial trunked radio and communications masts or equipment can interfere with medical equipment such as defibrillators.

Malcolm Chisholm: Guidance on the use of mobile telecommunications equipment in Scottish hospitals and close to electromedical devices was provided in a letter on Mobile Phones - Possible Interference with Medical Devices (HDL(2001)21) issued by the Scottish Executive Health Department on 13 March 2001.

  In April 2001, the then Medical Devices Agency in England and Scottish Healthcare Supplies issued further advice on the potential for both the conventional Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) mobile phones and the new Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) radio system to interfere with a range of medical devices. On the basis that the risk to medical devices from the use of TETRA handsets is comparable to that from GSM cellular phones, NHSScotland were advised that "all personnel using TETRA handsets on hospital premises should be made aware of, and comply with, local policy on the use of cellular GSM phone systems".